St John’s University-New York Top Questions

The students at St. John's University are extremely diverse. I have heard that coming to St. John's is a culture shock at times because students come from different backgrounds and cultures into a learning environment with different kinds of people.

St. John's University boasts one of the most diverse student bodies in the country. However, despite the many different races on campus, there are a great deal of cliques and the different groups and races segregate themselves. There is a large community of Asian, Indian, and African American students, especially, and these groups generally do not branch out. There are a lot of race and cultural-oriented groups on campus such as Haraya, a group that is dedicated to the black culture and Pare, a group for Filipino students. There is even segregation based on different majors. St. John's has an excellent Pharmacy program - and I guess these students are what you would call the "geeks" or "overachievers" but they are not viewed that way on campus. They do, however, tend to stick together and are often seen studying til all hours of the night together in the library. Greek life is not an incredibly important part of the St. John's culture, but sorority girls and frat guys are everywhere - and you can tell them apart by their windbreaks and t-shirts, adorned with their letters. There are also plenty of sorority and fraternity rivalries - and even those who are not involved in Greek Life have heard about the problems. And, of course, there are the infamous frat parties which seem to make up the traditional college experience in the eyes of outsiders. My least favorite part about St. John's is its lack of mention or notice of the LGBT community. Due to its Catholic roots, the school does not focus any time or energy on bringing awareness to this group of people and what they have to deal and struggle with.

Within the melting pot of America and the most diverse zip-code in the world, the stereotype of St. John's University is that there is no stereotype. If you are looking for a white-bread, preppy school and thought this Catholic institution would be a safe bet, guess again. With each new class to arrive a new flock of oddities comes as well. There are your typical fraternity meat heads and skinny sorority girls along with your sizzling hot Latinos and plenty of gangsters to go around. There are hipsters and fashionistas, kids all tatted up and kids that wouldn't know any pieces of clothing other than sweatsuits exist. St. John's University has all shapes and sizes of people. This may be difficult to accommodate at other schools but here in New York City there is bound to be a place for everyone. There are students from below the poverty level to the richest of the rich. There are atheists, Muslims, Hindus, and Jews. Being that the school is Catholic, there is an incredible Catholic student community and really just an overall great faith community. The most interesting part of St. John's is to see every different type of personality intermingling together. While there are times when certain types of people tend to stick together - there are plenty of cultural fraternities and sororities and many ethnic clubs - for the most part everyone here gets along. At St. John's you will find motivated students that plan on being featured in Forbes one day and working on Wall St. and plenty of free spirits that just want to be educated and have no plans past that. The student body - in personality, appearance, and demographically - is truly representational of New York City.

Saint John's is a school that prides itself on diversity, and for good reason! There are all types of students that go to school here, which makes for an interesting college experience. I personally come from a small town where everyone is pretty much the same, so being able to live and interact with people from various backgrounds has truly changed my perspective on life. I've met people from just about every race at school, an opportunity I certainly am not afforded at home. While the school is still largely a commuter school, recent years have seen students who come from all corners of the country and of the globe. With a little effort and investigation, you could very likely find a student who hails from some far-away, exotic land.... or simply from the town next over from you. Many people assume that because Saint John's is a Catholic school that there isn't a lot of religious diveristy, but that is certainly not the case. Among the people I am friends with are Jewish people, Muslims, Protestants of any number of different sects, Catholics, and many people who do not identify with any religion at all. The Catholic presence is definitely felt very strongly on campus, but in my own personal experience, it has not been obnoxious and the school is quite tolerant and respectful (even embracing) of different religious viewpoints. I don't think that there is really any type of student that would have significant trouble finding a group to fit in with on campus. There are tons of student organizations on campus, ranging from cultural organizations like the Gaelic Society to academic honor societies to Greek life to performing arts groups (if you're a good singer, you should consider joining the chorus! They're fun people....I would know, I'm one of them!) And if you're not really a "joiner", you can make friends easily enough just by being friendly in class. Most people are reasonably willing to engage in conversation, especially during the first few weeks of freshman year, so you're bound to make connections with people.

St. John's is extremely culturally diverse, boasting one of the most diverse campuses in America! There are literally thousands of students from every different continent (except Antarctica, of course) who study here and add the value of their cultural background to the tapestry of the St. John's student body. There are several student run organizations for different cultures, such as the Vietnamese Cultural Organization and a Latino/Hispanic Fraternity, just to name a couple out of many. This by no means that students separate themselves according to race or culture, though. Everyone is free to attend events by any cultural organization, and in fact groups intermingle and co-host events all the time! While we all come from different backgrounds and social statuses, we seem to coexist well and even embrace each other for our differences, as corny as that sounds. Instead of being 14,000 different people from dozens of different countries,we are St. John's - and that is a bond that is not easily broken.

Everyone on campus kind of does their own thing and we all just mutually respect it whether we agree with it or not. The crowd at school is very mature and in reality are more concerned with their work, classes and their personal live to really be concerned with anything else. I cant really say that there is any discrimination because I've seen all sorts of different people hanging out.

The students at Saint John's are actually what caused me to want to come here. Everyone is so friendly here, I've never had any problems at all. There is a diversity of cultures, and Saint John's makes sure to supplement each culture with their own groups. This is not an attempt to separate us, but for everyone to recognize their heritage. The diversity is what makes Saint John's so remarkable in my opinion. You are guaranteed to see at least five different cultures just by eating in the cafeteria. What I love about the students here is that everyone is here to have a good time and learn. No one walks around with their head in the sky or thinking that they're better than the next person. That has been a major factor in my smooth college experience here.

The students are the most diverse bunch you could ever think of. There are students from all over the world and from many states across the nation. I am from California and I came to New York to attend Saint Johns. This school makes me feel like I can be myself. I feel like everyone that attends feels that way. There is no one racial, religious, socio economic that stands out. There is plenty of room for every group. This is one of the reasons why this school stands out. It is not typical movie like university where people get teased or there is a vast majority of one race. You look in the dining hall and see the people sitting and you will see a mix of backgrounds. Everyone has different political views. From far right to the far left. What is great about this school is that everyone can speak out with out ridicule.

St. John's is supposedly the most diverse college in the United States. The students come from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, but also from very diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. This seems cool at first, but it makes the place kind of like high school. people tend to group together based on these identities and rarely venture out of them. The student body doesn't have any single defining quality.

Diversity, diversity, diversity. This is the only word that can describe St. John's. My first year on campus, one of my suitemates was a lesbian. She was so afraid to tell the rest of us, but when she finally did, she saw that nothing changed between us. During my orientation, my best friend for two and a half days was Muslim. We were so much alike, it was unbelievable. She also taught me a lot about her customs and beliefs. We are still close friends now in our junior year of college. There would not be any student who would feel out of place at St. John's; it's so diverse that I cannot even point out one group of students. Most students wear sweats to class but there are some people who get really dressed up. It all depends on what your personal style is. Sometimes I wear sweats and other times i feel like dressing up. Every year, there are elections for different offices at St. John's. The students are very passionate about winning and contributing to the school. They make posters, communicate with us on Facebook, and make an effort to introduce themselves on campus. I was surprised one time when a candidate for president of my residence hall came up to me and introduced himself. It is hard to tell people's financial backgorunds because at St. john's students are not concerned about how much money another student makes. This is very different from high school where you were judged based on what you did and did not have. Students want to be successful. They have a drive to learn in order to make money. They do not talk about how much they want to earn, but they want to be comfortable enough to sustain a family and donate back to St. John's.